One Horse Towns

Life on TN

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Another mine job! When it turns out that Our Heroes (tm) are working at cross purposes, only one can emerge victorious…

[Fennec is undercover as a mechanic for the Benchfield Mines, trying to suss out whether the Benchfields have any connection with the Comptroller. Officially, she’s been tasked with ensuring that some new Gears are in order to put down an imminent miners’ strike. Unofficially…]Zac: “Okay, so since this is my fake job and not my real job, I think snooping is in order.”

[Olly is a runner who’s been helping Fennec, to the point where Fennec doesn’t want anything untoward to happen to him. Of course, there are various definitions of ‘untoward happening’.]Olly: “Where am I supposed to go?”
Fennec: “I dunno, find a rock to hide under.”
Ariel: “You should hide in the pit of corpses – it’s the only safe place.”

[Fennec has been aside by Megan Farr, head of security. Also in the workshop is Karima, Ariel’s alternate PC.]Zac: “Where’s Karima?”
Ariel: “I’m waiting for your signal.”
Zac: “My signal to what?”

[Farr has been instructed to take Fennec back to the big house, where the two bosses live.]Fennec: “I’ve got a rapport with one of the Mr. Benchfields. I might wanna freshen up.”
Georges the GM: “Farr looks disgusted.”
Zac: “The less she thinks of me, the better.”

[Meanwhile, in the nearby town of Shady Pines, Lukas has arranged a distraction by lighting the Gropius Cultural Centre on fire.]Georges the GM: “People are forming a bucket brigade.”
Brock: “So much for the 52nd century.”

[Why have one distraction when you could have more than one distraction?]Brock: “Any other distraction opportunities? [beat] What’s the town’s power plant?”

[Also in town is Roxanne Marçon, Julie’s alternate PC. While normally a highly perceptive sniper, Julie botches her notice roll right when Roxanne is coming to Lukas’ notice.]Brock: “I hate to zip-tie you and put you out of commission for the rest of the evening.”

[Lukas takes Roxanne’s comms, just in time to hear Fennec’s conversation with Megan Farr.]Lukas: “Y’know, by now I’d have shot whoever you’re talking to in the face.”

[In the car, Farr and Fennec have a tense conversation.]Fennec: “What are you expectin’, huh?”
Megan Farr: “I’m expecting violence. It’s safer than the alternatives.”

[Lukas is still listening in.]Lukas: “She’s getting good details. I want you to know if you die, I’m using this intel.”

[After a bit of a stalemate, Fennec tries to give a little. It doesn’t go that well.]Fennec: “Would you believe if I said that Earth loyalists…”
Lukas: “Now you sound like a crazy person.”
Megan Farr: “You talking about the bones?”
Lukas: “Hmm, maybe you’re not a crazy person. Maybe you found a fellow crazy person.”

[Sometimes information is less forthcoming.]Fennec: “Whose bones are in the mine?”
Megan Farr: “Nobody who’s gonna be missed.”

[Farr reveals that the bones are of captured GRELs. A Humanist Preceptor named Layson apparently updated their hypnoprogramming to turn them into miners instead of killers.]Zac: “What happened to Layson after we captured him?”
Ariel: “Gorash shot him in the back of the head.”
Zac: “Oh, right.”

[Diplomacy at its best.]Fennec: “The way I see it, we have the same goal here.”
Julie: “To screw the other guy”

[Note that Lukas has been listening in on the whole conversation. Moreover, Karima has also been listening in while providing overwatch.]Fennec: “Megan, I just gotta confer for a second with my… conscience.”

[In the end, Farr and Fennec decide to work together, head up to the big house, and find out what’s going on. They’re taking Karima with them.]Fennec: “Are you a mechanic?”
Karima: “A bit.”
Fennec: “Can you fake it?”
Karima: “Yeah.”

[The way things always seem to go…]Zac: “I’m confident that whichever Benfield we decide to back will be the one that turns on us. Because drama.”